Wollaton Hall

Sir Francis Willoughby was a wealthy merchant, having interests in coal mines, which paid, and investments elsewhere, which didn't. His family had lived in the little village of Wollaton nearby for the previous 100 yrs.

In 1588 he began to build his new home. The house took about eight years to build. It is supposed to have cost about £8,000 ($11,000), though this figure is disputed.

The house is built on a high hill overlooking all the surrounding area. The lands consisted of about 800 acres. This has been reduced this century to about 400 acres of parkland and gardens, and there was once an orangery (like the one still to be seen at Chatsworth in Derbyshire), although the Wollaton one has now disappeared. The construction of the new estate saw the destruction of the little hamlet of Sutton Passeys, recalled now in name only by a crescent in the adjacent Wollaton Park area of the city of Nottingham.

The Willoughby family came from Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, originally, some 15 miles south of Nottingham, towards Leicester. By 1596, when he died, Sir Francis had managed to lead a complex life, with two marriages and little to show for his ventures but debt. He had seven daughters by his two wives, but no male heir. He invested widely in all sorts of ventures, including glass making, but lost heavily in business and virtually ruined his family with his land purchases. There is a plaque over the south entrance of Wollaton Hall which describes in Latin, that he was "ambitious but unhappy and without an heir."

The scene shifts now to the 17th century, and another Sir Francis Willoughby of the same line. He studied at Cambridge in the 1650's and became a leading Natural Historian.

Studying birds, plant, life, fishes, flora and fauna he undertook extensive voyages on the Continent, he had many works published.

The line of oak trees in Wollaton Park is said to have been planted by him. He also branched into Human Anatomical studies in Italy. Many of his voyages were undertaken with a man called John Ray, a Cambridge lecturer and botanist.

The interior of the Camelia House was one of the fashion setters in the 18th century. Also in the grounds of the Hall was an orangery. This no longer remains. The exceptional quality of the Camelia House is the extent of the wrought iron and the expanse of glass. The interest in exotic plants from abroad was to continue well into the 19th century.

The modern Wollaton Hall is now a Natural history Museum. The City of Nottingham inherited the Hall from Lord Middleton in the 1920s. There are interactive exhibitions for school parties, and many birds and animals. Wollaton Hall is one of the principles centres for taxidermy. Many animals are shown in their natural habitat. Everyone remembers the stuffed giraffe and the apes and gorillas.

David Bellamy, the TV botanist and naturalist, contributed to the campaign for the restoration a few years ago of one of the very oldest greenhouses in England, built of wrought iron and glass in the 18th century, the Camelia.

The ghost is, like most stories, authenticated in the minds of those who believe in them, but improbable in the minds of those who don't. One or two stories are known of a presence in the minstrel's gallery in the main hall.

Other stories involve strange lights, particularly seen in the dovecote, off the stable yard, where there are some residents' flats. The lake has been the site of suicides over the centuries and, less unhappily, it would seem that from a more recent past, a woman walking a dog, can still occasionally be seen at dusk, much as she had been doing in her lifetime.

This information is Ó Southwold Primary School. Copying for Educational Purposes is allowed.

The text is Ó Jeremy Boot and used with permission.